Just Pretend
by JenMarielle
Summary: Gabriella got Troy and her into quite a jam. The only way out of it is to pretend to date! Troy agrees to help Gabriella, after all, it's just pretend...isn't it? Troyella.
1. I'm dating Troy Bolton?

**AN: Chapter One! Enjoy:)**

**--**

In the library of East High School sat Gabriella Montez frantically flipping through the pages of her Chemistry textbook. Eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she tries to memorize the formulas needed for today's quiz. It was the free period before her Chemistry class. Now usually, she would be prepared for this kind of simple tests but unfortunately, her best friend Troy Bolton distracted her the night before. He invited her-okay more like _begged_ her to watch movies with him. The corners of her mouth tugged into a small smile as she remembers last night.

"_Hydrogen and Oxygen makes Hydrogen Oxide…" Gabriella murmured to herself as she read through her notes. She was lying on her bed, comfortable and all, studying for the test they were going to have the day after._

Gabriella rolled onto her stomach, propped herself up with her arms and closed her eyes, trying to absorb what she had learned so far. She sighed and looked over to her notes once more.

_Suddenly, she heard someone knocking softly on her balcony door. Gabriella looked over to her left and saw none other than her best friend, Troy Bolton. She stood up and walked slowly towards him before unlocking her door with a soft click._

"_What are you doing here?" She asked, confused._

"_Is that a way to greet your best friend?" Troy teased as he nudged her. She giggled and mumbled a 'Sorry' before enveloping him into a hug. She buried her face into his neck and sighed. They were always so comfortable and at ease with each other. They would even flirt occasionally and not even notice it. Students at East High often thought that they were dating but they always denied it, claiming that they would never be more that just friends. Heck, even their parent thought that there was something going on._

"_So… what brings you here?" Gabriella finally asked, breaking away from him and stepping aside to let him in._

"_Mom and Dad are out of town and I'm so bored," Troy complained, pouting._

_Gabriella laughed as Troy looked at her, amused. "Anyway, I was wondering whether you would like to come over to my house and watch some DVDs?" Troy asked._

"_I would but I need to study! I mean there's a quiz tomorrow and I haven't finished my revision and you know I hate it when I fail. I know that I'm such a perfectionist but that's who I am and I'm…"Gabriella started rambling but was cut off by Troy._

"_HEY HEY HEY! Okay, I know you're so stressed out right now, that's why I'm bringing you out," Troy told her, with a playful smile playing along his lips._

"_But Troyyyy," Gabriella whined._

"_Gabriellaaa," said Troy, in the same tone._

_Gabriella huffed then pouted._

"_Nope. I won't take no as an answer missy… now, come on! I promise it will only take a while. Heck, Gabi it's only 7.30. Who studies at 7.30?"_

"_Apparently me, now get out. I need to study! And plus, it's a school night!" Gabriella rolled her eyes._

"_I promise that you'll be back before 10.30 now come on!" Troy whined. Gabriella stayed quiet for a while, obviously thinking about it. "Seriously, I'm gonna die of boredome. Do you know what I've been doing? Eat, Watch TV and Play Basketball. Repeatedly." Troy watched as Gabriella giggled and stared at him, hey eyes twinkling._

"_Yup, so you better come with me now or I might have to tie you up, throw you over my shoulder and kidnap you," Troy said jokingly._

_Gabriella smiled and said "Fine, but if I fail this test…" _

_Troy raised his eyebrows. "What?"_

"_I'm blaming you,"_

"_That's it? You're blaming me? No death-threats? No… nothing?" Troy teased._

"_Shut up or I might just have to cancel…"_

"_AAH! Okay, okay I'm sorry now can we please go?" Troy asked, frustrated._

"_Okay, just let me tell my mom," "YES! Finally!" Troy said before picking her up and twirling her. Gabriella squealed and held onto him tightly, her laughter echoing around her room._

Gabriella smiled at the memory one last time before finally pushing it aside to study. She had read the same sentence in the past ten minutes. She needed to study and forget about her night.

Few minutes later, she finally looked at her watch to see that it was almost class. She was about to close her book when she felt a presence looming behind her. A pair of large hands gripped the arms of her chair and she felt someone breathing down her neck. She had a feeling who it was. "Hello there, Gabi."

She rolled her eyes. She was right. "I told you not to call me that," she said stiffly as she slammed her book closed. The only people who were aloud to call her that were her best friends. Everyone knew that. But Mr. Cocky Football Captain just couldn't get the picture. Tyler Wemming thought he was god's gift to women. Apart from Troy, he was every woman's fantasy ...except Gabriella and that was the only reason why he tried to pursue her. No matter how much she pushed him away, he would just come after her more. Every other girl thought she was crazy for turning him down, but they were just silly girls with crushes who couldn't see past the exterior he created. Sure he was good looking...but he was also crude, selfish and cocky. She hated that.

"Tyler, leave me alone," she said with a sigh as she got up from her chair.

Tyler took this advantage by trapping her against the table with his body. "Why fight it, Gabriella. I know you want me."

"I'd rather mug down with Mr. Folk," she said in disgust as she tried to push him away.

"Come to the Senior Prom with me, Miss Montez."

She sighed. He really couldn't take a hint. "Um...sorry, already going with someone else," she lied.

Anger flashed in his eyes. "Who?!"

"Er...I..."

"You're not going with Bolton are you?"

"Um...yes...yes I am," she said as she lifted her chin up at him.

"Are you two together or something?" he asked as he grabbed her wrist when she tried to leave.

"Let go you're hurting me and it's none of your business who I'm seeing. Maybe I am dating Troy." She saw the look of shock in his eyes and it made her say the next thing that came out of her mouth. "In fact...I AM dating Troy Bolton." As soon as she said it, she wished she could take it back. Why did she say that? Oh man he's gonna kill me, She thought.

"Fine, date him for all I care," he said as he pushed away from the table away from her.

"You'll eventually get over him and realize you want me instead."

"Keep dreamin," she muttered as she stocked out of the library. As soon as she was out of view she nervously bit her lip. Troy was not going to be pleased.

--

**AN: Okay, in this story, Troy and Gabriella doesn't feel anything for each other… yet. It will develop as the story develops. Troy likes another girl named Cecilia and wants to ask her to the prom. But after what Gabriella said, will that still be possible? Read away and find out for yourself!**** R&R!**


	2. Bye babe!

**AN: Thanks for the reviews guys:) Appreciate it! ****Chapter Two! Enjoy :)**

**--**

Gabriella entered the cafeteria for lunch. She surveyed the chattering crowd for Troy. She found him sitting with Chad and Taylor.They were all laughing hysterically at something and Gabriella immediately thought that it must be one of Chad's ridiculous jokes. Taylor saw her and waved her over. Gabriella took a deep breath before walking towards them.

Upon reaching, she was welcomed with 'Hey's and 'What's Up's before taking a seat beside Troy.

"Hey, what's up girl?" Taylor asked her, munching on her chilli fries.

"I went to the library during free period to study," she began as she started to pick on her own food.

"So _that's_ where you were!" Troy exclaimed. "I was looking all over for you!" Gabriella nodded before continuing. "First few minutes were a flop, because I was too tired from last night to function."

"Last night?" Chad and Taylor asked in unison.

"Troy and I watched DVDs last night. He practically begged me to come over because his parents are out of town and he was so bored." Gabriella chuckled, keeping her eyes on Troy.

He chuckled with her. "What a blast though right?"

"Yes and we should definitely do it again." She smiled. Their friends grinned at their interaction. Were Troy and Gabriella the only ones who haven't realized that they were meant for each other?

"Go on...you were studying..." Taylor said.

"Right...I finally got to study for a few minutes and...well...Tyler showed up."

"What?" Chad snapped up. "Tyler came up to you..."

"Yeah, he..."

"Did he touch you...or hurt you?" Troy asked frantically as his hands traveled over her face and down her neck, searching for any marks he might have left on her.

"No Troy, he didn't hurt me," she said softly as she grabbed his wrists to stop him. "He may be an ass, but he's not violent."

Troy grabbed her hands and squeezed it as he looked at her.

"Now, he's not...You thought that about Parker and...and, you found out you were wrong in the worst way..." Taylor said softly as Chad nodded.

Gabriella gave a small smile and informed her, "That was a long time ago, Taylor. Thanks to you, Chad and Troy, he can't touch me anymore."

Troy closed his eyes as he shook his head. "I never want to see another bruise on you ever again."

"You won't...as long as your around I know I can't get hurt," she told him firmly, hoping it would calm him down. "Tyler doesn't want to hurt me...he may want to try and get me in bed, but..."

"He touches you and he dies...if I ever see him lay a finger on you, he dies." Taylor said menacingly.

She smiled softly and couldn't help but laugh. "You guys are like my personal bodyguards."

"We're your personal best friends...someone hurts you, we take it personal." Troy sighed as he tried to calm down and then rubbed her arms with his hand, urging her to continue. "Go on, Gabi...what he do?"

"He just cornered me, that's all and...he asked me to the Senior Prom."

"What did you say?" Taylor asked.

"I lied...told him I was going with someone else already," she said as she tried to avert her eyes away from Troy's.

Troy noticed this and was worried. He knew she was nervous about something. "Aaaand?"

"Umm… Troy? Can I speak with you privately over there?" Gabriella said softly, while pointing at a deserted corner of the cafeteria.

Taylor and Chad watched as Gabriella dragged Troy along with her.

"So, you were saying?" Troy asked her.

"He um...asked if uh...I was going with you."

He studied her guilty face. "Gabi...you told him no right?"

She looked down and bit her lip and only looked at him when he lifted her chin up with his finger to force her. "Ummm..."

"Gabi...please tell me you didn't..."

She winced. "I'm sorry!" she finally said with an exasperated breath. "I didn't know what to say!"

"How bout no, someone else?!" he yelled, causing the whole cafeteria to stare at them.

"Dammit, Gabi you KNOW I was gonna ask Cecilia..." Troy whispered harshly to her as the students started to get back to their own business. Taylor and Chad looked on, puzzled, but couldn't make out what they were saying.

She sighed at the mention of his recent crush on the new transfer student, Cecilia Watson.

"I know but..."

"I was going to ask her today!" he groaned as he paced around the small corner, making Chad and Taylor even more confused on what the hell was going on. "What am I suppose to do now?"

"I...I'm sorry, I...I panicked! I knew he wasn't going to leave me alone if I didn't say something! He hates you! He's jealous of you, that's why I said yes."

"I don't care two shits about him, Gabi...I'm your best friend yes and I'll help you in any way...but this! I really want to ask Cecilia!"

Her heart fell to the pit of her stomach. A small part of her was hoping he'd agree to pretend...just pretend they were going out for a few days. "You're right," she finally said. "I got myself into this mess by telling him we were dating and..."

"Dating?" he asked suddenly. "Didn't you just tell him we were just going to the prom?" Gabirella swallowed her tongue and looked at him shyly.

"Gabi!" Troy whined.

She winced. "I KNOW! I'm horrible!" she yelled, causing the cafeteria to stare at them once more. Gabriella looked at Troy's sullen face and walked briskly to an empty hallway, Troy following behind her. Chad looked at Taylor and shrugged.

When Gabriella was sure that they were alone, she continued. "I'm sorry, I really am...I don't know why I said it. Look, just forget I said anything about it, I'll just..." She let out a sigh and leaned against one of the lockers. "I'll just go talk to him and tell him the truth and..."

"NO. You're not even gonna stand in the same ROOM with that guy let alone talk to him," he refused angrily as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Ugh...okay...fine...you win. I'll...pretend we're dating...BUT...we break up at the prom. I, at least, want a dance with Cecilia."

Gabriella saw him pouting in the middle of the empty hallway and she couldn't help but smile. She ran up to him and flew his arms around him. "Thank you! Thank you!"

Troy stumbled backwards a little as he lifted his arms away. He finally gave in and wrapped them around her. "I'm still pissed at you ya know," he said even though there was a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"I know, I don't blame you," she sighed and then looked up at him. "It'll be a piece of cake, I mean the worse we have to do is hold hands when he's around...we can handle that right?"

"Yeah, we can handle that," he told her with a grin and then hugged her again when she laid her cheek back against his chest. "We'll have to tell Chad and Taylor about this, or they'll flip if they think that we're actually dating."

"Yeah, but only Chad and Taylor. You MUST tell Chad not to spread it around. You know that he has a big mouth." Gabriella said as he nodded in agreement. "We need to make it realistic and hopefully it'll get Tyler off my back for awhile."

"Or for GOOD," he muttered and then kissed the top of her head.

"You're right," she said as she pushed his head playfully loving the feel of his warm laughter traveling over her. "I'll see you later."

"Later Baby!"

Gabriella raised her eyebrows. Troy grinned. "Might as well practice right?"

"Bye babe!" she teased as she blew him a kiss before finally leaving him alone.

Troy chuckled. Maybe this won't be a bad thing after all.

--

**AN: Did you guys like it? Sorry if I didn't make sense at some parts. LOL. Anyways, R&R! Update coming up soon!**


	3. Pretend?

**AN: Yay! Thanks so much for the awesome reviews guys!**** Here's another chapter for you, where the best friends tell Chad and Taylor their plan. This Chapter is like only a filler chapter… nothing going on much. But still. R&R! And because of that, Chapter 4 might be coming in later today!**

**--**

"Hey," Gabriella greeted Troy the next morning when she found him leaning against her locker.

"Hi," Troy answered back but his eye was not on her, it was on Tyler who was, standing at the end of the buzzing hallway, glaring at the pair.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Troy mumbled something obscure, making Gabriella only hear the parts 'Tyler' 'end' and 'hallway'. Gabriella followed his gaze and saw none other than her worst nightmare. She shivered as she saw Tyler smiled at her. She finally turned to Troy and nudged him.

"Just leave him alone," Gabriella sighed.

Troy just continued with his intense stare. "There's something in him that makes him so killable," Troy stated simply. Gabriella couldn't help but smile a little at his sentence. Who says 'killable' anyway? Troy started to make his way towards the guy but Gabriella reached out to stop him.

"Troy, calm down...you're not going to kill anyone," Gabriella sighed as she tugged his arm.

"Oh , yeah? Watch me..."

"We've already done the death threats man, they don't work...might as well calm down."

Troy and Gabriella both turned to the sound and found Chad, with Taylor on his arm.

"Hey man," Troy and Chad did their 'manly' handshake while Gabriella and Taylor shared a quick hug.

"Where were you two?" started Troy, staring at the pair who was obviously cuddling.

"Probably up on the roof having a quick make-out session before class," teased Gabriella.

Taylor blushed. "Hey, it was Taylor who suggested it!" Chad retaliated, pulling Taylor closer to him.

Taylor turned red even more and gasped at him. "Chad Michael Danforth, how could you?" Taylor mocked, hitting on the arm.

"Okay, we've had enough lovey-dovey stuff from you two, time to get serious," Troy started.

Gabriella nodded. "About yesterday…."

"Oh yeah… about that, what happened between you two? Troy was pretty pissed," Chad said.

"Try 'very'" Troy muttered.

"You won't believe the mess I got myself into." Gabriella sighed, looking down.

"Um...excuse me?" Troy said.

"US...mess I got US into," she corrected with a roll of her eyes.

"What happened?" Taylor asked.

"Well you guys know half of it already right? About the Tyler-in-the-library encounter?"

Chad and Taylor nodded.

"That guy really can't take a hint," Chad muttered.

"I know...believe me, I know," Gabriella said.

"I told you guys that I lied and said I was going with someone else and...that's when I pulled Troy away. "

Chad and Taylor nodded once more.

"Wait... let me guess, Wemming asked if Troy was going with you?"Chad asked. "Yeah."

"Sooo...?" Taylor asking them to continue.

"Loud mouth here tells him yes," Troy finished for her and did his famous pout.

"You what?" Taylor asked incredulously, but inside she was screaming "Oh My God! Yeah! Way to go Gabi!"

"Oh, it gets better...she then tells him we're dating."

"Are you insane?" Chad faked surprised while sharing a knowing look with Taylor. Troy and Gabriella took no notice of this.

Gabriella let out a sigh. "Yes, apparently! Jeez..."

She then slapped Troy's arm. "And why are you being a jerk again, you agreed to pretend."

"I did yes, but I can still pout!"

"Wait, pretend to what?" Chad asked curiously.

"We are going to date until the Senior Prom...just pretend though," Troy told him.

Chad snorted.

"What?" asked Gabriella.

"Well, you guys won't need to do much." Taylor said, with amusement in her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

Taylor rolled her eyes. "As you guys may have noticed, more than half of the student population thinks you're dating remember?" Including Chad and I, Taylor added as an afterthought. "But your not. Your 'just friends'." Taylor continued, air quoting the words 'just friends'.

Troy and Gabriella blushed and said "Yeah."

"Well, you guys just keep on doing what you've been doing as 'just friends', " Taylor explained, air quoting the words 'just friends' once more.

"Kick it up a notch, and BAM! Hopefully, that'll get Tyler off your back, Gabi." Chad continued.

"Buuuuut if he keeps pursuing her AFTER 'the break up', then we stick to her like glue until graduation," Troy said firmly.

Chad nodded. "Good plan." Gabriella was like a sister to him and Taylor and would do anything to keep her away from Tyler, the playboy.

Gabriella scowled. "I can take care of myself." She turned to Troy. "All I need you to do is pretend we are dating and we can break up at the Senior Prom so you can have your precious time with Cecilia, okay? Now, if you'll excuse me I'm going to class."

Troy grabbed her arm and yanked her back. "You're not going anywhere while you are pissed at me."

"I'm not pissed at you," she said unconvincingly.

"Yes you are...if we are going to do this right, going out there while we are fighting isn't a convincing way to do it, Gabi."

Troy sighed. "We'll meet you in class...I gotta cool this one down."

Gabriella replied by hitting him on his arm.

"Good luck...Well, we gotta go…somewhere…see ya around lovebiiiirds." Chad teased.

Gabriella started to pounce at him, causing Chad to flinch and stumble backwards. Troy, fortunately for Chad's sake, was holding her back.

"Get out of here before she starts baring claws." Troy joked.

"Have fun with her," Taylor laughed before finally leaving the hallway with her boyfriend, probably to have another make-out session at the rooftops.

"Gabi, calm down," he said gently as he pulled her to him. "It's okay...I know we seem like jerks, but we're just trying to protect you."

"I don't need protection," she said even though she was already relaxing in his arms.

"No doubt you are a strong woman and could probably kick anyone's ass," he said causing a chuckle to escape from Gabriella. "But we love you, Gabi...we'd do anything for you, you know."

She sighed as she leaned back against him. "I know."

Troy placed his chin on her shoulder. "Are you okay now?"

She took in a shaky breath as she tilted her head resting her temple against his. "Yeah, I'm sorry I snapped. I don't like this any more than you do."

"Listen Gabi, pretending to be your boyfriend isn't going to be bad at all, come on...you're acting like it's gonna be open heart surgery or something. We're going to have fun with this okay?"

She smiled slightly. "Okay."

"Well anyway, you look great."

She blushed slightly. "Thanks...had to look good enough to be on Troy Bolton's arm."

He let out a laugh. "Yeah right...whatever. It's ME who doesn't deserve you...every single guy in East High has some kind of plan to try and snag you."

"And how would you know this?" she asked amused.

He shrugged. "I might have overheard some guys talking about you." He sighed. "Let's just say, I was very close to going over there and beating the crap out of them all."

She winced. "That bad huh?"

"Yeah, but they ARE guys, I mean...Chad and I talk about girls like that, so I can't blame them really, ya know? I mean, they aren't attached to you the way I am."

"Aww, you're sweet," she said as she ruffled his hair.

"Hey, hey," he said as he pulled her hand away. "Don't mess up the hair, okay?"

She let out a laugh. "Whatever…besides I like it better when it's messy." She then ruffled his hair again making them both laugh.

They grabbed their books before Troy grinned and held out his hand. "Ready to go, babe?"

She smiled and slipped her hand in his warm one. Funny, whenever Troy held her hand in any way, whether it was for comfort or any other reason...she always felt safe. She gave him a friendly squeeze. "Ready as ever."

--

**AN: I'm sorry if it sucked. Haha. Like I said, nothing much going on…and Cecilia won't be mentioned much… anyway, R&R please!**


	4. Yes, we need to kiss

**AN: AAH! LOL. Okayyy... so I lied. I didn't post the next chapter on the same day. haha. well... in turn, i'll give you an extra long chapter:)) and of course, thank you for your reviews guys! PS: Longest chapter so far!**

**DISCLAIMER: Omg. After 3 chapters, then I remembered. I totally forgot about the disclaimer. HAHA. I dont get what's the purpose though. I mean, everyone knows that the author for the fanfiction owns nothing. Thats whyit's called a fan_fiction._ LOL. Well... I'll just do it anyway! ****I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING. Now, back to the story:)**

--

Troy and Gabriella walked hand in hand as they made their way to the East High cafeteria. Troy looked over at her only to see her biting on her bottom lip. He smiled as he squeezed her fingers. "It's gonna be okay, Gabi."

"I know," she said a little too quickly.

Troy stopped right outside the entrance and turned to face her. "I mean it Gabi...if we want to do this we have to go in there with confidence. We smile and pretend we are a happy couple in love, okay? That can't be too hard right? We love each other right?"

She had to smile. "Yes, you know I do...but not in..."

"That way, I know," he finished for her. "That's why it's called pretend. Didn't you ever use to play it as a kid?"

"All the time."

"Exactly, so you should be a pro at it." He then surprised her when he lifted their joint fingers and kissed it. "Relax."

The feel of his lips on her skin made all the nerves and anxiety melt away. She sighed in content. "I'm ready."

Together, they walked into the cafeteria with happy smiles plastered on their faces as they gazed at each other. They noticed people pointing and whispering at them as they walked by, but were not surprised. In fact, most of the students had looks on their faces that say 'Finally!'

Troy just chuckled as he put an arm around her and pulled her next to him, before kissing her temple.

Wow, Gabriella thought. He was good at this.

"Hey guys," Troy said with a smile as they sat across from Chad and Taylor. Kelsie, Zeke and Jason was also there, just hanging out.

"Hey, congratulations man! I mean not to sound like a girl or anything but I have to say that I've always thought that you and Gabriella would end up together!" Zeke started while patting Troy on the back.

Troy and Gabriella both blushed.

**(AN: Kelsie's going to be a bit out of character here.)**

Kelsie's eyes grew wide. "So...it IS true?" she asked and then squealed with delight when Troy and Gabriella both nodded. "Oh, I'm so happy! I always thought you guys would be adorable together."

Troy flushed even more. "You did?"

"Yup. I mean the both of you have such great chemistry together. It's kind of hard not to notice it. I think the bond between the both of you just deepens even more since you guys started as being the best of friends and now you are involved romantically…and…and… you guys are just so cute together!" Kelsie squealed.

Everyone laughed.

The laughter didn't last long. The presence of a man walked up behind Troy and Gabriella, looming over them.

Taylor, Chad, Zeke, Jason and Kelsie looked up and by the look on their faces, Troy and Gabriella immediately knew who it was.

Troy and Gabriella looked up, expecting the worst.

"You can't honestly expect anyone to believe this little game you're playing, do you?" Tyler whispered harshly at Troy and Gabriella, his eyes clouded with anger and hatred.

Troy turned around and stood up, sheltering Gabriella behind him. Troy towered over Tyler by an inch and the other boys stood up on the other side of the table, on the verge of hurdling themselves over the table if Tyler started anything.

"Course not, Wemming," Zeke said. "You're so full of yourself it must be difficult for you to believe that a smart girl like Gabriella turned you down,"

"I'm not here to talk to you, Baylor," Parker said.

"News flash," Chad said. "You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us." Taylor pulled Chad back down and tried to calm him. As did Kelsie, but with Jason and Zeke. Everyone then glared at Tyler.

"How noble," he smirked.

"Just go away, Tyler," Gabriella finally spoke up as she stood up behind Troy. She tried to step around, but Troy reached around and grabbed her wrist, silently telling her to stay behind him.

"You heard the lady," Troy said. "Gabriella is with me, Wemming. The sooner you realize it the better."

"So what...you go around holding hands and I'm supposed to believe you're dating?" He let out a laugh.

"Anyone can do that. Sorry, I'm not buying it." He looked at Gabriella. "I don't know why you're pulling away for me, Gabi... "

There's a whole lot of reasons, Gabriella thought with a snort.

"Don't call her that," Troy hissed while the rest of the cafeteria looked on the intense scene between Troy Bolton, Gabriella Montez and Tyler Wemming.

"I can call her whatever I want, you don't own it," Tyler said getting defensive.

"Yes we do," Troy said and finally had enough of him. Gasps and shrieks filled the room when Troy pushed Tyler down to the ground, Tyler landing with a loud thud.

Gabriella pulled Troy back, nervousness and shock evident on her face. "Troy… don't start…" She whispered calmly into his ear.

"Leave her alone, Wemming. I mean it, or I'll punch you into the next dimension." Troy hissed, his knuckles turning white.

"Fine...I'll leave," he said, while standing up and then looked at Gabriella. "You can't hide behind your bodyguards forever, Gabriella...we will finish this."

"You touch my girlfriend and you die," Troy said firmly as he gripped Gabriella's wrist more firmly.

Tyler gave him a smug look before he turned and walked away. Gabriella let out a sigh as she pressed her mouth against his shoulder, closing her eyes as she sighed. Troy immediately turned around and pulled her in his arms, coaxing and soothing her as he ran his hands up her back. He could barely hear the girls in the room, sighing and awing at the sight of them. "Are you okay, Gabi?" he asked.

"Don't worry, Gabi...he's an ass...he's not worth it," Taylor said as she placed a hand on her shoulder while she was still in Troy's arms.

She finally leaned back and gave her best friends a small smile. "What would I do without you guys?"

"I think the correct statement is, what would WE do without our Gabriella," Troy said as he pushed back strands of her hair, caressing her cheek.

Gabriella then smiled up at him, before sliding her arms round his waist bringing him back to a hug. Taylor, Kelsie and some other girls in the room smiled at the pair.

While some, are overly jealous and wanted nothing but to be in Gabriella Montez's shoes. Although they knew that they had no chance whatsoever with East High's Primo Boy, there's no harm in dreaming right?

At that moment, Troy Bolton momentarily forgot about pursuing Cecilia Watson and instead, found himself getting a lot closer to his best friend.

At that moment, he wanted nothing to do with his 'crush' at the new transfer girl but only spend time with the girl that was right now, in his arms.

--

The seven of them were laughing happily as they made their way back to their lockers, as if what Tyler said in the cafeteria did not affect them.

Well truth be told, it didn't. He's just a piece of scumbag who's asking for trouble.

Everyone then scattered to go to their individual lockers, to get their books and other stuff needed for their next class.

"Hey, Gabriella, I'll walk you to your locker," Troy suggested. Gabriella smiled at him and shook her head.

"It's okay, I need to go to the bathroom anyway… we have English next for two periods right?" Troy nodded.

"Okay… Can you please get my stuff for me because we only have like 10 minutes left before the bell rings and I don't think I have the time to get to my locker to get my books. I'll meet you in class in 10," Gabriella explained, knowing that Troy knew her locker combination.

"Okay, hurry back and watch out for _him_," Troy said as he leaned down to kiss her temple. Gabriella gave him a quick smile before she turned and headed down the opposite direction, towards the closest bathroom.

When Gabriella started to walk away, Troy started to make his way towards Gabriella's locker before going into his own.

Once inside the bathroom, Gabriella disappeared inside one of the cubicles when she heard voices coming into the bathroom.

"Are you sure it's not just your jealousy?" a feminine voice she recognized as Jo Cayhill. She was in the same year as her and was in her Chemistry class.

"Don't be silly Jo," another familiar voice said. Claire McDuff was also in her year and good friends with Jo, and also had a mad crush on Troy. Everyone knew that. "Tyler is right, it's obvious they are pretending. Quite sad really, that Gabriella has to use poor Troy like that."

"I don't know Claire, they look happy to me," Jo said uneasily.

"They're friends, Jo. Of Course they are happy, but Troy would never see Gabriella in that way... First of all, I heard that he had a mad crush on that new girl, Cecilia Watson... and secondly, I mean come on...who would even like Gabriella Montez, the geek?" Claire huffed.

Gabriella felt her heart drop as she felt tears start to swarm in her eyes. She bit her lip and kept listening.

"Tyler likes her." Jo retaliated lamely.

"Tyler thinks of her as a challenge, that's all. Gabriella just won't accept him so he'll just keep on bugging her until he gets her and besides, Troy is too good for Gabriella...she's so...boring."

"That's not very nice, Claire, I've talked to her before and she's pretty nice." Jo defended.

"Nice is boring," she stated. "Come on; let's go see if we can find Troy. I saw him a second ago and he was alone."

"You're hopeless, don't you ever give up?" Jo asked.

"Never... I always get what I want," she said with a laugh.

Gabriella closed her eyes as their voices faded, replaying the hurtful words in her mind over again as she exited the cubicle. She had never heard anyone say such hurtful things to her since that time when her ex-boyfriend Parker Bowen badmouthed her, causing her to cry in the bathroom for hours.

Luckily she had very supportive friends and gave her the courage to break up with him. Parker has been transferred to another school because his family moved, due to his dad's job complications.

The tears threatened to come up and she tried to keep them down, but knew that she had no chance. Suddenly, she heard the bell ring.

Wiping away the tears that ran down her cheeks, she slowly made her way towards her English Classroom, not even caring if she was going to be late or not. She stopped halfway and walked towards the opposite direction. In fact, she doesn't even know whether she even wanted to go to class.

--

Troy looked at the clock that was hung up above the classroom. "What could be keeping Gabriella?" he asked worriedly. "She should have been here by now."

"I'm sure she's fine," Taylor told her. "Maybe she got sidetracked or something."

He shook his head. "No...something's wrong, I can feel it." He then stood up and made his way towards the door. "I'm going to go look for her. I'll see you guys later."

"But dude, the bell just rang, Ms. Vetra should be coming very soon" Chad informed him.

"Thanks for the obvious, Chad." Troy said sarcastically. "Just… cover for us." Troy said before leaving the room.

Taylor sighed in adoration as soon as he was gone. "Soul mates...how romantic."

Chad blinked. "Huh? Soul mates?"

"Didn't you hear him? He said he could _feel_ it. Only her soul mate could do that."

Chad let out a laugh. "You're such a mushy romantic," he said.

"You know you love it," Taylor replied, kissing him softly on the lips.

Ms Vetra, a 45 year old English teacher, came in the room slowly with a smug look on her face. Taylor made her way back to her seat but not before winking at Chad.

"Turn to your textbooks page 137…" started Ms. Vetra, starting her lesson for the day, not even noticing that Troy and Gabriella were not at their desks.

--

Troy walked over to where the girls bathroom was and lingered by the doorway, looking for Gabriella. Victoria Kinsdale came out of the bathroom along with her sister Violet so he quickly walked up to them. 'Hey, was Gabriella in there?"

"No, she wasn't," Victoria said. "I actually saw her a few moments ago, she was heading towards that door over there." She said while pointing at a door at the end of the hallway.

"She actually kind of looked upset," Violet added.

"Upset?" Troy asked quickly. "I'm gonna go see what's wrong, thanks girls."

"No problem," they both said.

Troy jogged towards the door the girls were pointing at and realized that it was their secret hideout, the school's rooftop garden.

He found her sitting on one of the benches, her head down. He walked slowly towards her, careful not to give away his presence. Her shoulders were shaking as she sniffled and sobbed quietly.

His heart broke in two at the sight. He hated seeing her cry. It was the worse feeling ever.

"Gabi?" he finally said softly as he made his way to the couch.

Gabriella gasped as she sat up. "Troy? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in class?" She asked as she began to wipe her tears away.

"Aren't you?"

Gabriella sighed.

"You never came to class... you don't usually skip classes," he said as he sat down next to her. "I was worried."

"You wasted your trip...I'm fine," she said unconvincingly.

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that," he said softly. When she didn't answer he reached over and tilted her chin up, forcing her to look at him. He could see her red puffy eyes were glistened with tears. "Oh baby...why are you crying? You know I can't stand to see you cry."

Gabriella sniffed as the tears crept up again. "I'm...sorry," she sobbed as she started to loose herself again.

"Shh...it's okay," he said as he pulled her to him, comforting her the best way he knew how. She buried her face in his chest, clutching handfuls of his sweater with her hands as she started to fall apart.

Troy pressed her closer to him and ran his hands over her soft hair, pressing his lips against the top of her head. He breathed in deeply, catching her scent, which smelled oddly familiar but incredibly wonderful.

"Please tell me why you are crying, Gabi. Please."

"I'm...I'm sorry," she said again.

"For what?" he asked as she felt herself start to relax against him.

"For pulling you into this...for making you pretend," she sobbed softly.

Puzzled, he gently pulled her back so he could look at her. "What's this? Why are you all of the sudden apologizing to me? I told you I don't mind, I'm actually having a wonderful time with you." He confessed.

"You don't deserve this...I'm not good enough for you, I..."

"Wait," Troy said suddenly angry. "Just back the hell up for a second...what's this about you not being good enough for me? What happened? Who told you that?"

"No one did, I..."

"Don't lie to me, Gabriella," he said and then shook her lightly by the arms. "Who told you that? What would make you think such a crazy thing?"

She looked down at her lap. "I overheard...some girls talking...in the bathroom." She sniffed as she wiped away a tear. "They were saying how I'm not good enough for you, that obviously Tyler's right and how you and I are just pretending."

Troy cupped her face and made her look at him. "Who was it?"

She sighed. "Claire McDuff."

The anger inside him doubled. "Fuck," he hissed as he stood up suddenly and started pacing. "Claire? That idiotic blonde who has been following me around like a puppy for the past two years?" When she nodded, he cursed again. "Gabriella, why the hell did you take her seriously? You're smarter than that."

"I don't know," she sighed. "It just hurts. She called me boring Troy, no one has ever said something that hurtful to me before, not even when Parker said those stupid things about me when we were dating."

"Gabi...baby, you know she's wrong," he said as he walked over and kneeled in front of her, placing his hands on her knees. "You are not boring. You are a beautiful, bright and loving. You're adventurous...brave and of course fun. Do you think I would let you hang out with me, if you were boring?"

Gabriella could hear the teasing in his voice and couldn't help but smile. "I guess not."

"Of course not!" he said as he reached up and cupped her face again, brushing away a tear with his thumb. "You are not boring. You are wonderful and please, what's more boring than looking yourself at the mirror all day long saying how 'gorgeous' you look?" Troy said, referring to Claire.

Gabriella giggled. "But Troy...we're not fooling anyone so far. Tyler won't back off... he'll be right back to where he was after he recovers from that push you gave him just now."

Troy leaned up and sat down next to her. "Then we start getting serious," he told her.

"We need to pull off a scam of a lifetime, Gabriella, and I think you know what we need to start doing."

Her heart started to beat uncontrollably. She swallowed hard. "You mean? Kiss?"

"Yes. We need to kiss." He let out a shaky breath, but inside, he was buzzing with excitement.

--

**AN: Ooh… things are heating up! An update will be up soon… and a hot one at that! Haha! R&R guys! And btw, I'm sorry if I mix Tyler and Parker up sometimes. It's kind of confusing. Haha. Thanks a bunch! -throws virtual cookies-**

**Jen  
xoxo**


	5. Just Practice

**AN: WOOT! WOOT! Another update! ******** Keep the reviews coming in people because I take them very seriously… this chapter is when Troy and Gabriella practice their kiss. Hope you guys like it!**

**--**

Gabriella let the information sink in for a moment, before finally answering. "Okay...we'll...kiss the next time we see Tyler," she agreed.

Troy bit his lip. "Er...actually, I think it would be wise if we do it now."

She blinked. "Now? But...no one's around, we're alone."

"Exactly...I mean, think about Gabi...the first time we kiss...it's going to be awkward, right?" 

"Er...yeah, I guess."

"Right, well...we don't want to kiss for the first time in front of Tyler, he'll see right through us if we're awkward and clumsy. See what I'm saying?"

"Yes...I guess your right." She sighed as she shifted next to him on the bench. "So...it'll kind of like be practice."

"Right...practice," he agreed as he felt his heart start to hammer loudly against his chest. He was about to kiss Gabriella Montez. He was really about to kiss her. His best friend, who stuck by him through the good times and the bad. The girl who made him who he really was… just Troy. Not just some jock or a basketball captain but… Troy.

"Okay," Gabriella finally said. "I'm game."

Troy took a deep breath as he shifted in his seat next to Gabriella. He gave her a quick glance as he scooted closer to her. Troy cleared his throat, so did Gabriella and they both shared another look while they waited to see who was going to take the first move.

"Well?" Gabriella finally asked. "Are we going to kiss or what?"

"Yeah, I'm...working on it," he said nervously. "Give me a break, I'm about to do something I never thought I'd do with you." I think, he added as an afterthought. What? Shut up Troy! You're supposed to be just helping her to get Tyler off of her back and you like Cecilia remember?

Troy was brought back when Gabriella spoke. "I know it's awkward, but like you said...we need to do it," she told him as she shifted towards him.

Troy nodded as he swallowed the lump in his throat. "Er...maybe...we should stand up," he suggested as he stood up and let out a hand to her. She took it and stood up in front of him, her heart skipped a beat when he looked into his eyes.

He really has beautiful eyes, she thought as she found her self getting lost in them.

Troy finally took another breath as he stepped towards her, lifting his hands, hesitating before he finally framed her face softly. He licked his lips before his lips started to drift closer to hers until finally they met for a soft gentle kiss. Troy felt her began to melt right away and through the ringing in his ears he could hear a soft sigh escape her. He quickly drew back and studied her dreamy expression. "How was that?" he asked unsure.

She couldn't help but smile. His nervousness was so darn cute. "It was nice," Gabriella finally said.

"Although, it only lasted half a second." She smiled.

"Right...okay, I can do that," he said and before he could back out, he leaned down and kissed her again, this time pressing harder against her full mouth.

Wow. Her lips were really soft...like satin. Wait a second...he wasn't suppose to be enjoying this, it was just Gabriella. It was suppose to be like staging and motions...not feelings. Then why was his lips starting to tingle and his heart jump to his throat?

Gabriella moaned softly against his mouth as she hesitantly lifted her hands to his chest. She could feel the heat radiating from his body; she wanted him to pull her closer to him so she could dwell into his warmth. As if he could read her mind, she felt him step closer to her as one arm left the side of her face to wrap around her waist, pulling her up against him. Her hands started to travel up his chest before circling her arms around her neck, pressing her body tight against his. He muffled a moan against her mouth and if her mouth wasn't occupied at the moment, she would have smiled.

God, her body fit perfectly! He gripped handfuls of her shirt at the arch of her back as he all of the sudden slipped his tongue between her lips tasting her fully. God, she tasted good! More. He plunged again, causing them both to moan both in pleasure and in shock as the effects on the kiss started to overtake them.

Gabriella finally gasped as she pulled a part, both breathing heavily as they gazed at one another.

"You just gave me the tongue," She informed him.

Troy couldn't help but laugh at the way she said it. It was if she was saying some intellectual fact or definition she read from one of her books. "Yeah, I did," he finally said still grinning. "That's what I usually do when I kiss a girl."

"Wow. You're a good kisser, Mr. Bolton." Gabriella teased.

"Why thank you...same to you, Miss Montez," he replied not really believing they were discussing this just after they experienced a full blown make-out session.

"Well...I guess that's it then," she said quietly even though she was dying to kiss him again. "We broke the ice and all."

"Yeah," he said with disappointment. "But..."

Gabriella's ears perked up. "Yes?"

"I mean...we could always...practice more...wouldn't hurt you know? The more comfortable we are..."

"The more convincing we will be," Gabriella finished for him and agreeing with him so it would give her another excuse to kiss him.

"Exactly," Troy said, silently congratulating himself for coming up with a reason. Which was a good one...I mean it wasn't like he wanted to kiss Gabriella for no reason...was it?

"Practice," he finally said again. "Just practice."

"Right," she said as her eyes flickered down to his lips. "Just practice."

Troy's mouth swooped back down hers, yanking her back to him as he kissed her hard, desperate to get all of his frustration out of him. He had no clue he had been missing the scent of a woman...the feel of a feminine body pressed up against him...the feel of soft lips glued to his. He missed it. It had been ages since he kissed a girl. The kiss grew more passionate...more desperate as tongues and lips met in a fury and hands explored and groped. Troy's hands were wandering up and down her back while Gabriella's fingers were lost in his unruly brown hair.

She wasn't close enough...not by a long shot so she started to hike up her right leg up to his hip. He groaned into her mouth as one hand snapped around to snatch the back of her knee tugging it to bring her closer.

Lips still locked, they stumbled and fell onto the bench. Gabriella fell on her back, while Troy quickly followed, landing completely on top of her. Troy finally left her bruised lips only to kiss her jaw line and down to her neck. Gabriella gasped when his mouth captured her ear. "Oh...wow...Troy that's my ear," she said as she her heart fluttered.

"Thanks for the anatomy lesson, Gabi," he teased as he lifted his head away so he could look down at her. "That was one hell of a practice."

She smiled softly. "I'll say."

He chuckled before he leaned down and kissed her softly. "We better go," he finally said. "The guys are probably wondering where we are."

She nodded. "You're right...and who knows...maybe we'll run into Tyler," she said with a wink.

He grinned. "If we're lucky."

They were both heading out down the door when it swung open and Chad and Taylor almost ran into them. "Hey there you guys are!" Chad said as they walked in. "We were just looking for you and figured you two would be here."

"Oh...sorry," Troy said nervously as he tried to tame his hair with his hands. "We were just...um..."

Taylor giggled and shared a look with Gabriella as if telling her 'Details… later' while Chad just looked confused. "Troy why are you blushing...and Gabi why is your hair all messy?"

Taylor rolled her eyes. "You can be really thick sometimes, Danforth," she exasperated. "Can't you see they've been making out?"

Chad blinked and then studied his two best friends. They were both red, their hairs were out of control and their lips were pale and bruised. Sure signs of kissing.

Chad and Taylor grinned.

"What?" Gabriella asked innocently.

"Are you guys _finally_ together now?" Taylor asked excitedly, starting to jump up and down.

"No...no course not," Troy said quickly. "We were just...practicing."

Chad eyed his friend suspiciously. "Practicing?"

Troy sighed and told him all about what happened in the girls bathroom. "We were just getting the first kiss out of the way, Chad, so it wouldn't be awkward to kiss in front of Claire."

Taylor huffed when Claire was mentioned. "I never did like her."

Troy snorted and said, "At least she doesn't have a crush on you. And by the way, aren't the two of you supposed to be in English right now?" Troy asked, glancing at his watch which read that they had at least half an hour before the period ended.

"Yeah well… we ditched," Chad said simply.

"You ditched class so that you can find us?" Gabriella asked, confused.

"We wanted to see if you were okay, and I guess that you _were_ in good hands," Taylor had stifled a laugh at their appearance just a moment before. Troy and Gabriella both blushed once more.

"How did you guys…?" Troy started.

"Taylor faked spraining her ankle while walking towards the teacher's desk. I offered to bring her to the nurse and… that's it." Chad explained lamely.

"Don't you think Ms. Vetra would find it suspicious if the four of us weren't in class?" Gabriella asked.

Taylor snorted. "Puh-lease. She would still continue teaching blindly even if there's only 3 students in the class."

The four of them doubled up in laughter. Until Taylor suddenly pulled Gabriella aside.

"Hey Gabi, can I talk to you?" Taylor asked.

"Umm… sure I guess… what about?" Gabriella asked innocently.

"You know what…Now, come with me," Taylor said teasingly while leading her down the steps.

"See you later boys!" Taylor called after the guys.

Once they were out of the boys' earshot, Taylor said, "So...you guys are really going all out aren't ya?" she asked with a grin.

"We have to if we want to make it believable," Gabriella replied as she leaned on the rooftop's door entrance. "He's my best friend and I know he'd do the same for me if it was reversed."

"Why don't you guys just get together for real?" Taylor asked, seriously.

Gabriella gasped. "I do not think of Troy like that Tay!"

"Suuuure, you don't," Taylor nudged her, grinning.

"We're only pretending to get Tyler away from me, remember?" Gabriella reasoned, biting her lip.

"I do know that, but come on, you have to feel something for him!" Taylor said, trying to get something out of Gabriella.

"I mean you guys are so close! LOADS of people think you are dating, you guys even flirt constantly and not even notice it!"

Gabriella blushed. "No, we don't."

Taylor rolled her eyes.

"And please, he likes Cecilia, remember?" Gabriella defended.

"Troy haven't _even_ spoken to the girl before yet! And have you heard him mentioning her lately? Complaining that Cecilia might not like him anymore if she saw him with you? No right?" Taylor exclaimed.

Gabriella sighed. "I don't know Tay..."

"I have to know though," Taylor said after a moment of silence.

"What?"

"Is Troy a good kisser?" she asked curiously.

Gabriella stared at her, a small smile playing on her lips. "I thought you only thought of Troy as a big brother and your boyfriend's right there!" Gabriella said, while pointing behind her.

"I'm just curious is all, I do think of him as a big brother and I know for sure know I'm never going to kiss him...that be, too weird. So…how was it?" Taylor asked

Gabriella pondered on this for a moment before answering her. "Actually, it was...nice."

"Nice," Taylor repeated. "Just...nice?"

Gabriella turned to her. "All right it was more than nice," she said. "It was amazing."

Taylor's grin widened. "Amazing? Kissing Troy?"

Gabriella nodded. "Yeah...it was one of the best kisses I've ever had, Tay."

"Well…what are you going to do about it then?"

She looked at Taylor, puzzled. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, is this really just pretend?" Taylor asked, still trying to get something out of her best friend.

"Tay, don't be ridiculous, I'm not going to ruin my friendship with Troy just based on one amazing… wonderful… mind-blowing kiss, all right? It was probably just because I haven't been in a relationship for so long, I didn't realize how much I missed being involved with a guy."

"Maybe," Taylor said still not convinced.

"Well, just enjoy it I guess while you can. You two can just be hook-up buddies till the Senior Prom...no strings attached." Taylor said teasingly.

Gabriella chuckled. "Not really, we'll only kiss if they're people around," she said although for some reason she was dying to kiss him again.

"Let's go back up, before the boys gets suspicious. We still have at least 15 minutes left before our next class." She suggested.

"Sure," Taylor agreed as she followed Gabriella up the steps and into the rooftop once more.

--

"Hey," Chad greeted the girls when they reached the top.

"Hey...well come on then Chad, I think the lovebirds need to be alone," Taylor said, while giggling at the glare Gabriella gave her.

Taylor linked arms with Chad as they went down the steps and into the empty hallways just as the warning bell rang.

"What did you and Taylor talk about, huh?" he asked playfully as they hung back from the other couple.

She grinned. "What do you think? We talked about you of course." Gabriella said, linking her own arms with Troy before making their own way down the rooftop garden.

"Me huh?" he said not surprised. "Only good things I hope." Troy said, dodging the mass of students that were walking past them.

"Of course," she countered back. "I..."

Troy stopped short all of the sudden. "Shh...hear that?"

Gabriella opened her ears and then heard muffled voices around the corner.

"Yes...it sounds like Tyler and..."

Troy looked at her. "Claire," he said with a scowl. "Come on."

Together they walked to the hallway where the voices were coming from. Troy slowly peaked around that corner but flew back quickly when they saw them. He motioned to Gabriella to be quite and listen by holding up his finger to his mouth. When she nodded, they both leaned as far as they could, straining their ears to hear their conversation.

"We need to somehow prove it's just a scam," Tyler's voice said. "I WILL take Gabriella to that prom. I don't know WHY she's refusing."

"Please...she's just using Troy to make you jealous," Claire said. "Of course she likes you...and Troy doesn't like Gabriella, that's ridiculous."

Gabriella could feel Troy tense up so she rubbed a soothing hand up and down his arm for comfort, but continued to listen.

"We shouldn't talk about this here," Tyler said suddenly. "Why don't we meet somewhere later?"

"Meet me here later after school, when most of the students have gone… around 4.30?" Claire suggested.

"See you then," he said stiffly.

They heard their footsteps disappear and then Troy finally turned to Gabriella. "This is perfect...Gabriella, it's the right time to make our move...they don't know we overheard them so..."

"So, we show up before 4.30," she said catching on with a smile.

"And they catch us kissing...oh, the looks on their faces will be so priceless!"

She giggled excitingly. "You're a genius, Bolton," she said and then leaned up and gave him a loud smacking kiss on the mouth.

Troy blinked before he finally smiled. "Why thanks, Montez," he finally said. "I learnt from the best."

He then grabbed her hand and they both walked off hand-in-hand towards their next class.

Neither of them could wait until later.

--

**AN: Heya readers! How did you guys like this chapter? R&R please! ******


	6. Dealing with the Problem

**AN: So sorry for the long wait! I was distracted! Haha. I found out that I was invited to an exclusive High School Musical 2 Poolside Party here in Singapore and that kept me excited for days! It's this Friday and I can't wait! ******

**Anyway, ANOTHER CHAPTER! Thanks for the reviews guys! Again, so sorry!**

--

"You ready to go?" Troy asked. "We wouldn't want Tyler and Claire to reach there first. It's almost 4.30."

They were in their secret hideout together. Again. Just spending the time, enjoying each other's company, fooling around… while waiting for the time to come before they get on with their plan. All this while, both Troy and Gabriella couldn't help but feel a bit excited, as if they couldn't wait to kiss each other again. Well, in fact, they can't!

Troy wanted nothing else right at that moment but to feel Gabriella's body pushed up against his own, feeling her warmth while his mouth devours hers… while Gabriella wanted nothing else but to run her hands all over Troy's hair and his amazing six-pack chest that was worth dying for.

But too bad. They are just pretending. They are just best friends...

"Yeah, let's go," she said and then took his outstretched and hand and together they walked down the stairs, to the same place Tyler and Claire were at hours before. Their footsteps echoed as they walked down the empty hallways until they reached the corner Tyler and Claire were at hours ago.

"Good, they're not here yet," Troy whispered as he watched Gabriella leaned herself on the wall before following in suit.

"This is it," Gabriella said, intertwining her hand with Troy's.

She glanced absent-handedly at her watch before letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding. "We have about 8 minutes until 4.30," she told him.

"Where should we stand? Right here?" she asked. "How about to that bench over there?" he suggested while pointing at a small bench opposite that little corner. "They would surely notice us."

"Sure," she said, her voice breaking as she started to get nervous. They made their way to the bench and sat down. Troy started to wring his hands on his lap as he turned to look at Gabriella.

"What's wrong?" he asked, frowning as he studied her nervous expression.

"Nothing," she said quickly. "I just...I don't know I'm nervous all of the sudden. It's...I don't know..."

"Awkward again?" he asked.

She shrugged. "Yeah, a little." Calm yourself down, Gabriella, she told herself. It's just Troy… and puh-lease, don't tell me you're not excited about this! Gabriella blushed at her own thinking.

"C'mere," Troy said softly as he tugged on her gently until she situated herself in front of him, placing both knees on either side of his hips and straddled his lap. "They could walk in any minute." He ran his fingers softly over her neck, pulling back her hair before burying his face against her skin and kissed it. "The awkwardness will go away once we start."

Her eyes fluttered closed when he kissed her skin and her fingers dove into his unruly hair, just the way she likes it. His lips traveled up her neck and over her jaw line before he finally kissed her. Softly and gently. That was all it took for every tense muscle in her body to turn to putty. She literally melted against him as he continued to coax her with his sweet kisses, before she finally opened up her mouth to him. His tongue crept slowly into her mouth, massaging it with her own in a lazy, leisurely motion. He smelled intoxicating. She moaned softly and pressed her body closer to hers, silently letting him know that she was no longer nervous.

He groaned back in response when their bodies pressed tightly together. His fingers dove into her hair as he turned the kiss from gently to fierce. Their was no more tenderness...in either of them. Only raw passion, which they were both caught up in they almost didn't hear footsteps coming.

Luckily, Troy had opened his eyes for a split second to see Tyler and Claire's stunned faces. He pulled a part breathlessly, in which Gabriella let out a whining moan. "We got an audience, Gabi," he said softly as he licked his lips...her taste lingered.

She turned around to see them. "This isn't a show you know...we were here first."

Tyler stood frozen. "But...but..."

"But what, Wemming?" Troy asked. "Look, sorry we beat you here, but you're just going to have to find another place to have your little chat or whatever it is your about to do with Claire." Troy and Gabriella slowly stood up from their position and Troy leaned against the wall.

"Now...if you two don't mind, I'd like to finish where I left off with _my girlfriend_." Troy said, emphasizing on the words 'my girlfriend'. He didn't wait for a response...he immediately grabbed Gabriella's wrist and turned her towards him and kissed her again. They both tried hard not to laugh when they smiled against their lips, but the laughter was soon turned into strangled groans as they got back into their kiss.

Claire scowled at the both of them. "Let's go Tyler!"

They heard their footsteps slowly fading away but Troy continued to kiss her deeply as he slowly began to shift until he was pressing her back onto the wall.

"Mmmm...Troy...they're...gone," she said between their kisses as Troy ran his hands through her long silky hair.

"Little longer," he breathed against her mouth. "Just in case they come back. Hmm, you taste good."

She didn't argue. He tasted just as good and felt just as wonderful. Troy left her lips to give them both a break and started to kiss her neck again. She gasped softly when he started to lightly suck on her skin. "Tr--Troy what are you doing?" she whispered even though she prayed he wouldn't stop.

"Giving you a hickey of course," he said with a hint of amusement in his voice. "If that won't shut people up, I don't know what will."

She smiled as she let his teeth and tongue do it's magic. Troy was the best pretend boyfriend ever. Her smile soon began to fall though as she began to realize...a part of her wished it wasn't just pretend.

--

"Hey Taylor," Gabriella started as she walked towards Taylor's the day after. Taylor was rummaging through her locker, looking for her Maths book when Gabriella let out a long sigh, catching her attention. Taylor looked up and did a double-take.

"Hey girl, what's been going on? I went to your house at around 4 yesterday to hang out but you weren't there. I didn't see you after school and figured you would be home. Where were you?" Taylor asked, her eyebrows knitted in confusion.

Gabriella looked down at her shoes and stepped closer to Taylor, pointing to her neck.

"Is it obvious?" She whispered.

"What's obvious?"

She lifted her hair gently and Taylor gasped before covering her mouth to stifle her laughter, a grin threatening to come out.

"Girl, is that…?"

Gabriella nodded quickly and pulled her hair down again. She looked sheepishly at Taylor before mumbling "Troy" under her breath.

Taylor finally lost it and bursted out laughing.

"Sssshhh!" Gabriella covered Taylor's mouth with her own hand and blushed profusely.

When Taylor finally calmed down, she asaid "Wow… and I thought you and Troy making out was amusing but I was clearly wrong," she teased.

"Ah well… is it obvious?" Gabriella asked again.

"Not really, just put your hair down like that the whole day and no one will notice I thing. You're lucky your hair's long…" Taylor said, another round of laughter about to erupt from her.

"What happened yesterday?" Taylor asked her, her eyes twinkling.

Gabriella explained everything to her from Tyler and Claire's secret discussion to meet after school until the very last part when Tyler and Claire walked out on them.

"Ha! That'll show her!" Gabriella smiled at this.

"I'm guessing Troy got caught up in the moment?" Taylor giggled. "Something like that…" Gabriella sighed dreamily just as Troy and Chad came bounding up behind them.

Troy wrapped his arms around Gabriella from behind before kissing her cheek, Chad doing the same to Taylor.

Taylor took one look at the 'couple' and bursted out laughing once again.

Chad looked confusedly at her and raised his eyebrows.

"Are you alright Taylor?" Chad asked.

"Yes, Chad I'm fine now let's get going before we're late!" Taylor said before leaving the three alone and walking towards homeroom. Gabriella followed suite while the boys looked on, confused.

They shrugged and followed them as well, not wanting to know what goes on a girl's mind on a Friday morning.

--

"Hey Troy, you're still coming over to my house later for our usual Friday-Pizza-Movie night right?" Gabriella asked him, while sitting on his desk, waiting for Ms. Darbus to come.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world… and when did I ever _not_ go?" Troy raised his eyebrows.

"Good point." Gabriella chuckled just as Miss Darbus came into the room.

Gabriella quickly went back to her seat, but not before giving Troy a wink.

--

Later that evening…

"What do you want on your pizza Troy?" Gabriella asked him, holding a cordless phone on her hand.

"Anything's fine. By the way, where's your mom?" Troy asked her, sitting on the couch, looking through a pile of DVDs that was on the table.

"She visited my sick aunt in LA, she won't be back until Monday. She flew there yesterday," Gabriella explained, dialing the familiar number of the pizza place they love so much.

Troy nodded absently before making his way towards the DVD player, putting in 'Night at the Museum'. He paused it first though, waiting for their pizza to arrive first.

"Oh yeah… which reminds me… do you want to sleep over tonight? I don't want to be alone…" Gabriella pouted, once she confirmed their order through the phone.

Troy snorted and looked back at her. "I thought you stayed home alone loads of times before."

"Yeah that's true… but the weatherman said that there's gonna be a HUGE thunderstorm for the next two days and you know how I am…" Gabriella protested while situating herself beside Troy on the couch.

"You actually believe the weatherman? He's not even right 60 percent of the time!"

"Please… You can stay in the guest room…" Gabriella said suggestively, putting on her best puppy dog eyes she knew Troy couldn't resist.

Troy sighed. "Fine… only because I know you can't get enough of me," he teased, before leaving Gabriella alone on the couch to probably call his parents.

Gabriella did not respond to that, but just tolled her eyes and smirked at him.

"Oh hey, Gabi, what if I just stay the weekend? After all, the 'weatherman said that the thunderstorm will be for two days'" Troy said sarcastically before grabbing that same cordless phone Gabriella used just minutes ago.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Woah, that's one fast pizza!

"Ha. Ha. Very funny. And to answer your question, no problem. I could use some company anyway." Gabriella stood up from the couch to answer the door. She paid the delivery guy quickly and placed the two boxes of Pizza on the table in front of the couch. She sat on the couch, grabbing one of the pizzas and taking a bite, patiently waiting for Troy.

Troy finally finished calling his parents, saying it was okay for him to stay at Gabriella's for the weekend knowing that even though they disagree, Troy would throw any good excuse just for him to stay over so they simply said 'Yes' to avoid any arguments.

Troy unpaused the movie and sat beside Gabriella, grabbing her pizza from her and taking a bite from it.

"What lame excuse did you give this time?" Gabriella asked, the introduction of 'Night At The Museum' playing on the TV in front of her.

Troy chuckled. She knew him too well. "I didn't. They agreed immediately to avoid any arguments and lame excuses."

"Good." Gabriella chuckled as well, taking another pizza from the pizza box, leaving the other one with Troy. "Now, hush, I want to watch the movie," Gabriella said, her eyes glued to the television while Troy put his arms around her, making her insides churn.

He'd done it before but now it felt different. Their relationship had changed so much. For the better or for the worst, she's not really sure.

She shook off that thought and snuggled closer to him, sighing in contentment. How can she deserve such an amazing person? All because of him, Tyler didn't even glance at her direction today. She then realized that maybe; Tyler was finally starting to back off.

Sometimes, she's not even sure herself if they were only pretending. It all seems so real. Cecilia suddenly crossed her mind. Taylor was right. He hadn't mentioned her since forever. Maybe Troy has given up on her.

_Sigh._ She shouldn't think about this now.

Gabriella glanced at Troy, noticing how cute he looked when he was concentrated on a movie. She finally cleared her mind off of all her thoughts and focused on the movie herself.

--

It was well past midnight, when Troy had finally departed Gabrielle and was now fast asleep. It took him awhile to fall asleep, because thoughts of Gabriella kept running through his head. When they had said their good nights, the last thing he wanted to do was crawl into the bed in the guest room. He wanted to be with her.

And that had scared him.

He wasn't supposed to have these feelings with Gabriella. His best friend. The girl he had grown fond of ever since she transferred to Albuquerque. Better yet, ever since they had sang karaoke together in a ski lodge at new year's a few years ago. He had closed his eyes and tried to think of her as his friend...just his friend.

That didn't work.

Instead of thinking of her as just his friend, he thought of how soft and silky her hair felt between his fingers.

Instead of thinking of her as just his friend, he thought of how well her body had developed and how wonderful it felt pressed up against him. Her mouth...in which he once thought was only useful for silly grins and priceless smiles...but now he knew that her mouth had many more talents. That was what took Troy so long to fall asleep. He didn't know what to think about it.

Outside, dark clouds swarmed overhead and lightening streaked across the sky in a flash. Soon, sheets of water came pouring down, banging against the windows and thunder echoed overhead. It looks like the weatherman was right. Troy didn't mind thunderstorms...and didn't hear it either because he didn't even flinch when a loud boom of thunder shook the windows.

However, Gabriella who was just across the hall gasped in fear as her body flinched awake. Her heart raced and her breath quickened as she slowly sat in bed. Her room flickered when lightening flashed again and she jumped a second time when thunder stirred.

She threw the covers off of her and slowly made her way out of her room and through the dark hallway to the guest room where Troy was. She pushed the door open quietly to see him sound of sleep which wasn't surprising. He could sleep through anything. He was lying sprawled out on his stomach with the sheets bunched down at his waist as he breathed deeply. She hated to wake him, but she knew that she would never fall back asleep by herself. "Troy," she said softly as she walked over to his bed and peered over him. "Troy."

He stirred and suddenly lifted his head from the pillow. He blinked up at Gabriella trying to get her into focus from his blurry sleep. Once he could see her clearly, it only took one look into her scared eyes to realize why she was here. "Oh, Gabi," he said softly as he quickly sat up and held out his arms. "C'mere."

Gabriella went without any hesitation and crawled into his bed, clinging to him tight as he laid her down on the bed. She sniffed back her tears as she snuggled closer to his comforting warmth. The storm still raged on, but she didn't hear it anymore. Not when she was with Troy.

"You all right?" he asked pulling her closer as he ran his fingers soothing up and down her arm that was draped over his chest.

She nodded. "I am now," she whispered.

"It's silly really," she said as she shifted closer to him. "To still be afraid of storms like some little girl."

"Sshh," he soothed and kissed the top of her head. "It's not silly. Not at all. Everyone has a fear and no one expects you to get over that fear overnight. If you were terrified of being alone during storms for the rest of your life, it would still be understandable."

"I don't know what I would do without you, Troy," she said sleepily as she started to feel sleep take over her.

His heart skipped. "I...It's me who can't live without you, Gabriella," he said as he turned his head so his cheek rested on the crown of her head. "I need you so badly. I always have and always will."

Gabriella didn't answer. She had finally fallen back into a blissful sleep.

--

"Gabriella."

"Gabi," he said softly as he ran his hand gently up and down her arm. "Wake up."

"Mmm," she said sleepily as she shifted onto her back and then turned towards him, wrapping her arm around his waist as she buried her face in his chest.

He smiled softly and couldn't help but realize how much he enjoyed waking up next to her. Her scent was the first thing he noticed when he woke up...then it was her warmth and how good she felt against him. Now, he found himself wanting to kiss her awake...slowly and gently. He couldn't though. It was just pretend. And they were alone. "Come on, Gabi...rise and shine."

She yawned and stretched her body, arching up against him. She didn't see Troy look up at the ceiling trying to fight off a moan. "Troy?" She asked sleepily. "What time is it?"

"Time to get up," he said and kissed her on the forehead. "You have plans with Taylor today remember?"

She nodded as she yawned again. "Okay, just...give me a minute… Wait, if i'm going out with Taylor, then what are you going to do?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I'll probably call Chad to play basketball or something." Gabriella nodded.

A comfortable silence soon ensued. Troy decided to break it.

"How are you feeling?" he asked as he propped himself on his elbow so he could look down at her.

"I'm fine," she assured him. "Thank you for last night."

"It wasn't a problem at all. Anything I can do to help you. And I just realized, the weatherman was right." Troy said sarcastically.

She smiled. "I told you. Did you sleep well?"

"Like a baby," he said with a grin. "You're better than a teddy bear."

She giggled. "You're pretty snugly yourself, Bolton." She then leaned up and kissed the corner of his mouth.

"See ya," he said softly as he watched her leave. As soon as she closed the door behind him he fell back on his bed with a heavy sigh. He was definitely in trouble. "I think I need to take a COLD shower this morning."

Yep...he was in trouble all right.

--

**AN: Hmm… I'm not really sure about this chapter… Good? Bad? You my faithful readers are the critics! Review please! Love ya!**


	7. Revelations

**A/N: AAAAHHH! dodges flying shoes DON'T KILL ME. I know I haven't exactly updated for like two months. School's getting to me and I haven't had the time to update. ******** Sorry guys! Anyway, another chapter! **

**Enjoy!**

**--**

The weekend was over and school had started again. Gabriella had not seen Troy for a while now. He was busy with his basketball practices and she was grateful for that. She blew out a huge breath as she rummaged through her locker. At the corner of her eye, she saw Taylor coming her way. Suddenly, the memories of their shopping spree last Saturday flashed through her eyes.

_**Flashback**_

"_So… anything interesting I should know about?" asked Taylor, as she and Gabriella rummaged through the heaps of clothes at the mall._

"_What do you mean Taylor?' Gabriella asked her friend, her eyebrows furrowed in concentration as she picked up a cute hot pink tank top from the pile._

"_Oh come on, don't act dumb. You and Troy? Friday Fun Night? Surely you guys did something…" Taylor urged her best friend._

_Gabriella rolled her eyes, although her heartbeat was beating pretty quickly as she recalls the night before. Thunderstorms…_

"_Yeah, we did so something…" Gabriella started, Taylor listening intently as she followed Gabriella to the cashier, with her own heap of clothing._

"_We watched DVDs and ate pizza. Just like any other Friday Fun Night. End of story."_

"_Right. Let me remind you, there was a thunderstorm last night and the last time I checked you were afraid of them. I'm prepared to bet a hundred bucks that you asked Troy to stay with you last night since your mom's not at home." Taylor raised her eyebrows._

_Gabriella sighed. She obviously was not going to give up. She carried the bag with her newly-paid clothes in it and made her way to the exit._

"_Ugh…fine. If I tell you what happened, would you please stop asking questions? It's not that serious anyway. Just a simple 'best friend thing'…even you would have done it for me." She told Taylor, once Taylor caught up with her. Both of them walked briskly to Taylor's car to go for lunch at a diner nearby._

"_Yes! And I don't care. I just want to know. So what happened? Did you even sleep? I know you didn't. The storm was brutal. Where'd he sleep? You called for him didn't you? Wait. Did you go to him or did he go to you? And – "_

"_Taylor! Please calm down. May I remind you that you're driving. I would like to live the rest of my life and not die right now." Gabriella chastised as Taylor pouted._

"_Well… we did the usual as I told you. Yes, I told him to stay cause I knew there was going to be a thunderstorm… the weatherman told me. So we argued about the weatherman for a while…" Gabriella turned to look at Taylor who has this amused look on her face. _

_She glanced at Gabriella before turning back to the road, giggling. "Long story… so anyway the thunder was so loud and I kept whimpering so I went to him, to answer your question… and he comforted me and stayed with me the whole night."_

_Taylor suddenly burst out squealing loudly in the car. Gabriella covered her ears and waited for Taylor to finish whatever she wanted to let go of. _

"_Geez Tay, give me a five second warning next time, will you? And see? I told you it was normal thing for best friends to do. Nothing to get excited about." Gabriella said, trying to convince herself as well. Her heartbeat was still beating uncontrollably._

"_Chad doesn't even do that whenever I come over to his house and a storm suddenly comes in. You could hit him with a boulder and he wouldn't even wake up." Taylor snorted, as she turned off the car's motor and went out of her seat, Gabriella doing the same._

"_Well… that's because Troy's Troy and Chad's well… Chad." Gabriella laughed._

"_I know. Why can't my boyfriend be like your 'best friend'?" Taylor asked, air quoting the word 'best friend'. Gabriella chose to ignore that._

"_So anyway… have you picked out a dress for the prom?" She asked Taylor, while walking through the entrance of Gerald's Diner._

"_Not yet," Taylor frowned. "We should totally go shopping with the girls when prom's near." Gabriella nodded._

_A comfortable silence soon ensued as the girls went through the menu, debating on what food to order. Suddenly, the entrance door opened and in came Cecilia and her group of friends. _

_Gabriella looked up and nudged Taylor with her foot, causing her to look up as well. Cecilia and her friends sat directly behind the booth Taylor and Gabriella were at._

_Taylor and Gabriella could hear whatever they are saying perfectly well. Both girls hid their faces from the menu they were holding, as they listened intently to the conversation the other group of girls were having._

"_So Cecilia, have a date for the prom yet?" her friend, Natasha, asked._

"_Not yet. Although, I've heard Troy Bolton has a crush on me for so long now. He's been hinting that he likes me too." Cecilia said excitedly._

"_I thought he was dating his long-time best friend? That Gabriella Montez girl?" another friend, Maddie, asked._

"_I know he is. Tyler Wemming told me that they were only pretending to get him away from Gabriella."_

"_But… they made out in school! I'm pretty sure you saw it too… many times. Passionately, might I add. It doesn't look like they're pretending to me," Maddie pointed out, while Natasha nodded in agreement._

_Gabriella blushed when she heard this as Taylor shifted in her seat to get a good look at Gabriella before mouthing 'I told you so' to her._

"_I know. A part of me thinks that they're only doing it to make it even more believable. I mean, don't you find it weird that Troy and Gabriella suddenly dated after Tyler asked Gabriella to the Senior Prom? It's all so… rushed." Cecilia said, waving her arms for effect._

"_Hmm… I don't know Cecilia." Maddie frowned._

"_So… what are you gonna do about it? Take Troy away from her?" Natasha asked. At this, Gabriella's breath hitched._

"_No! I will never do such thing! I'm not that kind of person…and if my beliefs are right and they are still only pretending, then Troy will come to me. I will wait for him. I mean, his crush on me won't just die away like that. To be honest, I've never spoken to him before…" she blushed._

"_I know he glances at me during homeroom. I know he stares at me in English. I've noticed him. Too bad he doesn't know that. I was planning to talk to him during the prom. But now… I'm not really sure. I guess I have to wait and see." Cecilia finished, her face beet-root as her friends giggled in excitement._

_Gabriella bit her lip and rushed out of the diner, successfully hiding herself from Cecilia, with Taylor following closely behind. Both girls did not say anything until Taylor pulled out of their parking space at the diner._

_Taylor didn't know what to say. She doesn't know what was going through Gabriella's mind right now. "Gabi… I-"_

"_I'm done with this, Tay." Gabriella said, taking deep breaths._

"_What? What do you mean?" Taylor asked, looking frantically at her best friend._

"_I shouldn't have been so stupid and told Tyler that Troy was my boyfriend. This is entirely my fault! I'm ruining Troy's chances with Cecilia!" Gabriella groaned, as she put her head in her hands._

_Taylor decided not to say anything as Gabriella continued on with her rant. _

"_I know Troy likes Cecilia for ages now. Now I know Cecilia likes Troy. I'm getting in their way! How can I be so stupid? I should have listened to Troy and let him ask Cecilia to the stupid dance and not get him into this stupid mess…" She trailed off as she let out a frustrated sigh._

"_Hey, hey, hey… Gabi, calm down. First of all, Troy agreed to do it and- "_

"_That's because I begged him!" Gabriella interrupted._

"_And… like I said before, have you ever heard him mentioning Cecilia nowadays?" Taylor asked, her eyes fixed on the road._

"_Well… no… but maybe it's because he doesn't want to make me feel even guiltier of what I've done. He doesn't want to disappoint me… I mean… he's my best friend… he would do anything for me like I would do the same for him," Gabriella snapped._

_Taylor sighed as she turned to Gabriella at a red light. She did not want to the things that were going through her head since she knew that that would anger Gabriella even more. "So what are you planning to do now?"_

"_What's right," Gabriella replied silently._

_Taylor let out a loud sigh again as she drove off to Gabriella's house to drop her off. She knew that nothing she say will change Gabriella's mind. She's just stubborn like that._

_**End Flashback**_

**(A/N: Woah. Sorry if that was too long! But it was all necessary.)**

"Gabi… Gabi… hello?"

Gabriella snapped back to reality to Taylor's constant shaking on her shoulder. She closed her locker after getting all her books for the first period. "Are you okay?" Taylor asked her, concered.

"I… yeah…"

"Listen-" Taylor was cut off by Troy who was now walking towards them. "Gabi!"

Taylor and Gabriella turned. He finally reached Gabriella and stood in front of her. He looked around to see if anybody was looking before leaning in to capture his lips with hers, Gabriella turned so that it landed on her cheek. She swore she saw a look of hurt and confusion flashed through his eyes but both of them shrugged it off.

"Hey… how are doing? Hi Taylor," Troy asked Gabriella and acknowledging Taylor at the same time.

"I'll leave you two alone," Taylor said before walking off, probably to find Chad.

"I'm… fine," Gabriella replied, looking down.

"Okay… listen, you know that there's going to be a Mathematics test tomorrow right? Well… I kind of need some help. I know that you, me, Chad and Taylor are gonna study in the library later but I think I could use more help after that. Can you come over my house later on?" Troy asked pleadingly.

"Yeah… sure," Gabriella said, while giving him a small smile.

"Great! See you I homeroom," Troy said. He leaned down to kiss her cheek before walking off to his own locker. Gabriella stared after for a while before also walking off towards homeroom.

--

Troy, Chad, Gabriella and Taylor had studied in the library after school until six, and then finally splitting up to go home.

Gabriella's aunt's sick condition became much worse and her mom intended to stay there for a little while longer to take care of her. Although this kind of disappointed Gabriella, a part of her could not help but feel happy that her mom was not at home. Simply because she has the whole house to herself and she could do anything there without her mother making her do chores and everything.

Troy being well… Troy, was still unsure of some sums and still needed help on certain things. Of course Gabriella, being conscientious, offered to help. That led them into Troy's room on his bed, lying on their stomachs with their books laid open on the foot of his bed.

"I'm going to fail this test," Troy grumbled as he tried to solve the quadratic equation Gabriella laid out for him.

Gabriella sighed. "No you're not," she assured him.

"You're going to do just fine, you know all of it. You're thinking too hard. Apply the formulas that I thought you and you will find _x_ in no time."

"That's just it...my brain can't think anymore."

Gabriella shut her book and tossed it on the floor. "Then, that's the sign to stop studying for a while."

"I can't quit, I need to study more," Troy said as he shook his head.

Gabriella raised her eyebrows at this. He was spending _way_ too much time with her.

She slammed his book and took it away.

"Hey, give me that!" Troy whined.

She grinned as she held out his book away from him. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were acting more like...me."

He scowled. "Ha ha, very funny," he said and led out his hand. "The book please?"

Gabriella sat up on his bed and put the book behind her back. "No. You _know_ that I'm always right and I say that it's time to quit."

"That's it," he said and then lunged for the book, tackling a laughing Gabriella on her back as she held the book out as far as she could from him.

"Okay desperate time calls for desperate measures."

Gabriella flinched and busted out a fit of giggles when he started tickling her ribs. "Troy...stop," she laughed as she dropped the book onto the floor and squirmed under him.

The book forgotten, Troy laughed as he continued to tickle her sides. "Not until you say 'Troy is the most irresistible guy you have ever met.'"

"You wish!" she said and then yelped out a laugh when he moved his hand just above her knee and squeezed it. Gabriella was obviously very ticklish. "Ah...ah...okay...Troy...is the...most…"

"Irrestibleeee," he encouraged her as he loomed over her.

"...irresistible...guy I have ever…met...ah...okay, stop I said it, I said it!"

Troy laughed as he finally let up on her.

"You're weak, Montez!" Troy said to her as she smirked at him.

"Oh, so now we're on the last name basis, huh Bolton?" Gabriella teased back.

"Sure we are Montez. In that way, that'll teach you not to mess with me."

Out of breath, Gabriella smiled up at him. "I'll be sure to remember that," she said and then casually pushed back some strands of his bangs that fell over his face.

"That was fun." She said, forgetting about Cecilia for a moment.

He smiled softly and tried to ignore the slight twinge in his heart when he looked at her.

"I needed a break that was for sure...so I guess I should be thanking you."

"Hey, what are friends for," she said as she couldn't help but notice how right it felt when they were together like this.

"Yeah," he said softly. "Friends." He then shifted until he was lying partly on his side; his stomach and pelvis were pressed against her. "You know...if we were really dating...I would kiss you now."

Gabriella's smile dropped and heart started beating faster than ever as Cecilia's words came crashing down on her. _I'm on their way._

"W-would you now?" She gasped out.

"Oh, definitely...I mean it's the perfect setting, don't you think?"

She nodded uneasily while she bit her bottom lip. "Sure."

"Hmmm...well, unfortunately," he said with a shrug. "We're not."

"Yeah..."

"A shame," he said with a sexy grin.

Seeing him smile almost made Gabriella forget about everything. She was this close to reaching up and pulling him down for a kiss… but she knew it wasn't right. She needed to get out of there before she does anything she might regret later on.

She let out shaky breath as she sat up. "I better go."

"What?" he asked startled as he placed a hand on the other side of her, preventing her to go. "Why?"

"It's late," she lied and tried to sit up again and this time got off the bed, but Troy grabbed her wrist before she could leave.

He waited until she turned and looked at him. "Tell me the real reason."

She gave him a pleading look. "Troy..."

"I didn't do anything wrong did I?" he asked with worry in his eyes as he turned to sit on the edge of his bed. "I didn't make you feel uncomfortable or anything?"

"No, of course not," Gabriella said as she lifted a hand and touched the side of her face.

"Then why are you leaving?" he asked as he reached up and grabbed her hand. "Stay here tonight."

She took a deep breath as she tried to hold back her new and unfamiliar emotions. "I can't...it will be too real."

"Is that such a bad thing?" he asked as he felt his pulse quicken.

What was he doing exactly? Was he stepping across the line? Did he want to actually quit this game and make it official? What about Cecilia? He didn't know what he wanted exactly, but he knew he didn't want to be without Gabriella tonight.

"No," she finally said as she shook her head. "It _would_ be a bad thing. Listen Troy, I overheard Cecilia and her friends talking just now. She said that she _noticed_ you. She _likes_ you. It's your dream, Troy. You have always wanted to hear that. Believe me, I know. She said that she wanted to speak to you during prom... I don't know… maybe she wants to talk about you and her. She knows that you have been crushing on her Troy…" Gabriella let out a shaky breath before continuing.

"I'm the reason why the both of you can't have your relationship. I'm the one who's holding you down. I shouldn't have brought you into this mess. I shouldn't have told Tyler those things. I should have handled it myself. I'm… so sorry." Gabriella whispered the last part as tears started to fall from her gorgeous brown eyes.

Gabriella suddenly leaned down and kissed Troy softly on the mouth, lingering for as long as she can. She wanted to remember this. It might be the last time she could kiss him and she wanted it to be embedded in her brain. "And… that's the reason why I should go."

Troy sat there, too stunned to speak as he watched her slowly back away and then turned and walked out of his room.

What exactly just happened?

--

**A/N: Yes! I finally got that out of my system! Lol. Well… how was it? Bad? Good? I'm not sure when I might be able to update again. First Term exams are coming (21****st**** February) so yeah… wish me luck! ******** REVIEW PLEASE!**

PS: I want to dedicate this chapter to **Wan Yin** (Hey Kyle buddy!) and **CuPid gOt sTRucK Bii LuV** for keeping on encouraging me to update!


End file.
